Fight to Live
by pidgeismydaughter
Summary: ((Story entry for Paradigm of Writing's contest, "Comfort Zones Do Not Exist In Writing.)) While trekking through a desert looking for supplies, the two brothers, Cloud and Sky come upon a town called Redwing. When their rival town launched a surprise attack against them, things go south. Cloud and Sky fight to protect their newfound home from its tragic past.


**Main/Chosen Character:** Duck Hunt Dog (With his bird)

 **Chosen Genre:** Adventure

 **Rated:** T (For mild blood and cursing)

 **A/N:** I have chosen not to use all of the characters listed in the rules. I honestly thought that I could but...yeah..I couldn't figure out how to work them all in. I'm sorry!

* * *

You wouldn't expect something like this to happen on a sunny, gorgeous day.

 _Cloud, his mother and his brother lived in a wide grassy field. The only source of shade or nature was at the edge of a forest, a few feet north of their den. The grassy field was peaceful and tranquil, but the visibility of their home was a danger to them. For there were hunters out for wild dogs._

 _Cloud lay in the grass with his mother beside him,"Mommy," the puppy started,"why is my name Cloud?"_

 _His mother, a brown slim dog with a beige spot on he back, thought for a moment before she responded. "Well, for one, you're soft like a cloud._

 _You're gentle but you stand your ground. Especially against your brother!" She laughed. Cloud laughed with her. His brother was asleep in the den, tired after his lunch._

 _"Mommy," Cloud began,"have I ever told you h-"_

 _He was interrupted by the sound of_ _gunfire and the scattering of birds._

 _Cloud's mother turned to find two humans standing in the field with guns on their backs. One had a large mustache and was dressed in black with blue overalls. He had a red hat turned sideways on his head. The other had a red and white striped shirt and blonde hair._

 _"Must we harm helpless animals, father?" The blonde child asked the older human._

 _"It's called hunting, Danny," the human called "father" responded. "It's a sport."_

 _The child called Danny was taken aback,"Sport?! Taking lives is not sport!"_

 _"Believe it or not, it actually is. Watch." Danny's father began walking towards Cloud and his mother._

 _Sky waddled out of the den, rubbing his eyes,"Mommy?"_

 _"Cloud, take your brother and hide in the den. Do not, I repeat, do not come back out until I have come back for you," their mom said urgently,"Am I clear?"_

 _Sky was immediately awake. "Mom, what's wrong?"_

 _Cloud ran to his mother's side, his fur blowing in the wind and a growl surfacing from deep within his throat. "Mom no! I won't! I won't leave you! You won't make me!"_

 _"As much as I'd love to have you both by my side, I can't. Not in this battle. Now please, Cloud, take Sky and hide in the den until I come back."_

 _Sky longed for it not to come to this but he had to know. He had to be prepared,"And if you don't?"_

 _Their mother put on a grim face for a moment,"Then you are to leave here. Run as fast as you can. You know I wouldn't like you to stay here... Now go! Hide! I will be back for you. I promise. I love you both so much." And with that, she ran off, making a promise that she couldn't keep._

 _The brothers ran after each other into their home and poked their head out of the small cave. Although they were told to hide, they longed to see her one last time._

 _Cloud's mother ran at Danny's father, teeth bared, ready to defend her children with all she had._

 _His father turned to Danny,"Easy." He cocked his gun and pointed it at Could's mother._

 _A howl of agony sounded throughout the lush green grass and clear blue sky, causing the birds to scatter once more._

"Brother, wait up!" Sky flew to catch up with his older brother. "You know full well I can't walk as well as you can," Sky stated as he landed on his brother's head.

"Then why don't you just fly instead of walk? You have wings, so get up and use them," Cloud responded bluntly. Sky huffed in response, knowing his brother was right.

The brothers were in the middle of a desert, braving the scorching heat and humidity. They weren't on their way to anywhere in particular, instead they ran out of supplies, and started to look for a desert side town to buy new supplies.

There were mountains of sand in every direction of the two. Sky lay on Cloud's back, hoping to cool off for a bit.

"Hey, brother? Why did we have to come to the desert anyways?"

Cloud smirked, knowing Sky would be mad at his reason, which was none. "No reason," he said, smirk growing into a smile,"None at all."

Sky flipped out. "You mean to tell me that we're lost, in the middle of nowhere, with just a who-knows-how-old map, and all I have for company is a 6 year old mutt?!"

Cloud immediately stopped walking. "What did you just call me...?"

"You heard me! I said you're a mangy..."

"Sky, do not continue if you know what's good for you."

"...old..."

"Sky, so help me you will be strangled!"

"...mutt."

Cloud tackled Sky and started to lick him, not wanting to hurt his little brother in the least, for his brother was all Cloud had left.

...

"Brother! A village!" Sky flew towards it ecstatically.

"Slow down will ya?!" Cloud ran to catch up with his airborne brother.

Sky giggled as he landed next to Cloud. Together, they walked into the town to what looked like a town square. Small shoppes were lined on both sides of the square, with bigger cottages behind them. In the middle, a fountain shot out clear streams of cold liquid.

Cloud ran towards the fountain in relief, calling out,"Water!" He leaped into the fountain, and submerged himself in the ice cold...

"Liquor?" Questioned Sky as he looked carefully at the liquid. Now that he mentioned it, he _could_ smell alcohol when he first walked into the town.

Cloud climbed out of the fountain and shook himself off. A smirk made its way onto his face. "A town with a fountain that shoots out liquor instead of water?"

"Seems like this is a pretty posh town huh Cloud?"

"Yeah, it seems like it," Cloud responded, making his voice loud enough for people around him to hear. "And we're only a couple of 5 and 6 year old kids, with few change to spare on refreshments. Surely a rich, posh town like this one can spare two glasses of water? Oh, woe is me!" Then, to Sky, he whispered,"I've always wanted to say that!" A nice shop keeper fell victim to their antics and gave them a cup of cold water,"on the house." The two brothers sat at a booth outside of the shop and enjoyed their drinks.

All of a sudden, Cloud sat up in alarm. His stare shot towards a girl who was walking past them. "Watch out!" He called to the girl.

She stared at Cloud, puzzled. Cloud saw that she wasn't going to get out of the way anytime soon, so he ran over to her and tackled her too the ground. From there, disrupting the peace and security of the town, he yelled,"EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

A bomb appeared a few feet away. Cloud scrambled to his feet and ran to it, he picked it up in his jaws and threw it back the way it came. When it flew just a few feet away, it exploded in midair, scaring everyone in town.

Nervous murmurs erupted throughout the peaceful town. The girl Cloud had tackled stood up on shaky legs and thanked him. She was a tan human girl, only thirteen or fourteen years of age, and her face had a few freckles on it. She had long red hair that was pulled into a braid and she wore a white dress that had purple flowers on it. She had beautiful grass green eyes. However she also had a terrified look on her face.

Cloud thought she was pretty, so he figured that she was probably very attractive by human standards. "No problem," he acknowledged her gratitude,"although I'm sorry for tackling you like that."

She gave him a shaky thumbs up. "I-it's okay. I-I'm sure it w-was for my own safety..."

Cloud was unfamiliar with human behavior, so he guessed that this was an act of acknowledgment. However, he was in a rush. This town, he didn't have to guess, was being attacked. "I'm sorry, we'll have to talk later. This town is under attack!"

The girl looked startled,"Wait! Just a question. H-how did you know a bomb was going to be rolling in here?"

Cloud didn't really listen, much less care, all he heard were the words, 'how did you know' and he knew what she wanted to ask him. Completely serious, he responded,"I can see the future."

The girl snickered, and began to laugh. She calmed down and asked him again. "I'm serious. How did you know?"

This was the usual response from the people who he told this to. "So am I. Now I have to go." With that, he ran off, leaving the girl dumbstruck. He ran around the square, calling his brother's name. He finally saw his brother in the sky flying down to him.

Sky was out of breath. "Th-there's an army! I overh-heard them talking about taking back the town. They said it was payback from five years ago," Sky gasped and stuttered, trying to regain his breath.

Cloud was confused about this, but he remained focused. "How long until the rest of them get here?"

"We barely have ten minutes."

Cloud cussed under his breath. "I need more information..." Then he remembered, the girl! He picked up Sky with his teeth and threw him on his back. He ran all around the town yelling at people, telling them that an army was on its way. "Those who can fight, should stay. Woman who cannot fight should evacuate along with the children. They should go to the next town over and stay there until we fight off the army and protect the town. Barricade the town, we must protect it! We've only got ten minutes! Let's go!" With that, Cloud ran off to find the girl.

Cloud and Sky found the girl sitting in a church, and he ran up to her. His steps echoed as he ran. "Hey! Remember me? I need your help!"

The girl turned to him, surprised,"What?"

"Remember that grenade? There's an army coming! Sky flew ahead and her heard them talking about, 'taking back the town.' Do you know anything about that?"

The girl looked annoyed but also very scared. "My name is Lilac. Not 'hey'." Lilac sighed. "And yes, I do know about that. Five years ago, our original town, Redwing, was lost due to a sinkhole. Half of our people got caught in it and died. The rest of our people stumbled upon this town, Whitewing, after weeks of searching through the desert. Back then, that town's community was much smaller than ours, even after half of ours died. Our leader, named Ethan, went to speak with that town's leader, named Jay, to see if we could live in harmony together. She didn't accept and she badly wounded our leader. We revolted and fought the town. Since our town was more populated, we took the town with no problems. Yes, we felt bad to drive them out, but they took it too far, so in our eyes, they deserved whatever came to them. But now I see that they've reproduced, huh? Oh well. It's their town anyways. Let them have it back."

Cloud was dumbstruck. "Well we have to try!" He thanked her and told her to evacuate. "Go with the other women and children. You'll be safer." He ran out of the church to find the whole town at war.

Sky gasped. "They're here!"

Cloud snorted. "No duh, Captain Obvious."

"This is no time for jokes, Cloud!"

"You're right, you're right. Come on!" With that, he ran off with Sky still on his back.

"Where're you off to now!?" Sky exclaimed.

"Off to find the leader of the attacking town. If we can beat him, they won't have a leader and they'll run off." Cloud replied with confidence. All of a sudden, he shook Sky off of him and rolled onto the ground and duck low.

It was almost a minute before a bullet came whizzing directly past his head. From where he was standing before, it would have pierced his skull and killed him.

Good thing it didn't.

Cloud got up cautiously and Sky climbed back onto him. They continued running towards where Cloud thought he might find both of the leaders fighting each other. Town hall. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

When he finally got to a place which seemed like it was a town hall, he walked in and saw Jay stabbing Ethan to death with psychotic laughter. Cloud ran in, growling a warning, buy Jay only waved her hand and shooed him away. Confused, he skidded to a halt. Upon closer inspection, Cloud saw that she wasn't stabbing Ethan to death; he was already dead. She was stabbing a dead body. _She's crazy!_ Cloud thought.

"Didn't tell you to shoo, mutt?" She yelled at him. Cloud, of course, didn't obey and tackled Jay to the ground.

Cloud could deal with people being hurt, but not like this, no for no reason. He couldn't _stand_ to see people **killed**. Tears in his eyes, he yelled, "How could you do this?! He-he never did ANYTHING TO YOU!" Anger mixed with sadness and turned into sheer rage. Cloud didn't think and ran at Jay, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. "You...you BASTARD!" He jumped at the leader, Sky flying off of his back. Cloud made a long, deep scratch on Jay's arm. He tackled the leader onto the floor and tried to fight with everything he had. But it wasn't enough. She lashed at him, her sharp nails inflicting many wounds and scratches. He couldn't do this on his own. He needed help.

He called to Sky, "Sky! Fly outside and gather anyone who's not fighting! I need as much help as I can get."

Sky acknowledged his words, "Aye!" He said.

Jay stood up on shaky legs and held a hand over her other arm to try and stop the bleeding. She let out a psychotic laugh, "You actually think that the help of others will stop me?!"

Cloud realized, she was right. Though her body looked fragile, her eyes had madness in them. Her psychotic smile spoke for itself and her dishwater blonde hair messy. She might not be strong, but her madness made up for that.

...

Sky flew outside of town hall, intending to obey his brother's commands. The sight that welcomed him was a field splattered with blood. The dead bodies of Redwing littered the ground. Sky muttered to himself, stricken with fear. "We're losing, if we haven't lost already..." He had his doubts, for he couldn't see any alive person, either from Redwing or Whitewing. His doubts were confirmed when he circled the town. Three, four, ten times around, searching thoroughly for any survivors. He could only hope that Lilac had taken Cloud's advice and fled the town, as well as the other unable woman and children. He was about to head back to town hall when he heard someone whimpering.

He followed the sound down to an abandoned house, in which he found a girl bleeding to death.

"Lilac!" He rushed over to where she was dying. "No no no! Don't go! Please, Lilac."

She put her hand up to his face, "Has anyone ever told you that you have soft, beautiful feathers?"

"My mother did, once."

Lilac giggled as her eyes fluttered closed. "She wasn't lying. It was nice meeting you, Sky..."

Sky lay his head on hers. "Nice meeting you too, Lilac." He felt her heart's last beat. He flew outside and gathered a bouquet of lilacs; he lay the flowers on her chest and started his flight back to his beloved brother.

...

Cloud tried to hold his own against the overpowered leader. Cloud inflicted some serious wounds, and he was filled with hope for a period of time.

"I'm through with your stalling! I'll KILL YOU!" With a crazed laugh, she ran at him, sword thrusted.

Cloud leapt at her, believing that this was his finishing blow. Jay took this chance, seen as Cloud's underside was exposed. At the same time, both "animals" struck each other. Jay aimed her sword at Cloud's stomach.

A smirk of triumph grew on Cloud's face. Time seemed to slow down for Cloud, and he saw what she was aboriginal do before she did it. "Nice try!" Cloud dodged her blow and clawed her eyes out.

Jay screeched in agony as she covered her bloody eyes with her hands, "AAARRRGGGHHH!" Cloud landed on the floor and turned his back to her. "I didn't want to do that, I hate seeing people hurt, but you left me no choice. I'm sorry."

Sky flew in the hall and landed on Cloud's back. "Everyone is dead. There's no no left," Sky said, stricken with grief. He stared at the ground, wide-eyed. He spoke intensely, " _Kill_ her, Cloud _._ I watched Lilac die because of her. Kill this little piece of shit."

That was the first time Cloud ever heard Sky curse. By this, he knew Sky meant it. But he just couldn't bring himself to kill an alive, breathing person. Sky knew his brother wouldn't do it, and he knew enough about himself to know that he wouldn't, couldn't, either.

Jay couldn't _stand_ the pain coming from her eyes, or the fact that she'd be blind after the scars closed up. She took her hand off of her eye, reached for her sword, and blindly but surely, slit her throat.

Cloud and Sky saw this, but didn't react. They kept a sad but straight face, walked out of the town hall, and weaved through the dead bodies of their comrades to find somewhere to stay for the night.


End file.
